The invention relates to an apparatus for feeding single sheets from a magazine to the printing cylinder of a printing office machine or data processing machine and for stacking the single sheets arriving from the printing cylinder, having a feed-in conveyor track disposed substantially horizontally and leading to the printing cylinder, having an induction channel leading from the feed-in conveyor track to the induction side of the printing cylinder and an ejection channel leading from the ejection side of the printing cylinder to a delivery track, wherein the delivery track comprises guide foils with driven conveyor rollers, and having advancement rollers driven in the induction channel and in the ejection channel of the sheet guide.
An apparatus of this kind is known from U.S. Pat. No. 2,528,420. In this known apparatus, single sheets are transported from a magazine into the induction channel of the printing cylinder by way of the feed-in conveyor track, are drawn in by the printing cylinder and are transported after being printed upon into a stacking unit by way of the delivery track.
The apparatus has only one magazine, so that only a single kind of single sheets can be fed. If different kinds of single sheets are to be printed, for instance different forms or different stationery, then the stack of paper in the magazine must be removed and exchanged for a different stack, which is annoying and wastes time.
Furthermore, in this apparatus, all the single sheets ejected by the printing cylinder, which have been printed upon, are set aside in a common stacking unit. If the printed single sheets are to be further processed in different ways, for instance if they are to be directed to different workers, different receptacles, or different departments in an organization, then sorting the single sheets in the stack is necessary, which is tiresome and wastes time.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to improve the apparatus of the type described above in such a manner that a larger number of different single sheets, stored in one magazine, can be selectively fed to the printing cylinder in a simple manner and it is possible to stack the printed single sheets in a sorted fashion.
This object is attained in accordance with the invention by means of at least two magazine units containing the single sheets guided substantially vertically, which are disposed above the feed-in conveyor track one after another in the feed direction and provided with separately controllable separation devices, by means of a delivery track disposed below the feed-in conveyor track and leading away from the printing cylinder, furthermore by means of at least two stacking units stacking the single sheets substantially vertically, which are disposed below the delivery track one after another in the direction of delivery, by means of diverters known per se and separately controllable provided in the delivery track and by means of an ejection channel crossing the induction channel in the sheet guide.
Advantageous realizations and further embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the dependent claims.
With the apparatus in accordance with the invention it is possible to keep in readiness a large number of various kinds of single sheets or single forms stored in the magazine, the single sheets being selectively feedable. To this end, a plurality of magazine units is available, of which each one can store one stack of a particular kind of single sheet. The separation devices of the magazine units can be controlled separately, for instance by the office machine, so that one single sheet of the kind needed at a particular time is called up from the appropriate magazine and fed to the printing cylinder by way of the feed-in conveyor track.
Because the single sheets are fed from the magazine units by way of the horizontal feed-in conveyor track, there is no limitation in principle as to the number of magazine units disposed vertically and located one after another. A limitation in the number of magazine units and thus of the different kinds of single sheets which can be held ready in stored fashion is caused only by the length of the feed-in conveyor track and thus by the structural dimensions of the apparatus.
An apparatus is known per se from the East German Pat. No. 109,572, wherein a multiplicity of magazine units containing single sheets is disposed one after another above a feed-in conveyor track in the feed direction and has separately controllable separation devices. However, this machine is a collating machine wherein single sheets are withdrawn in cyclical fashion, always in the same order, from the magazine units and put together to make a book signature, set of forms, or the like. The use of a multiplicity of magazine units with a horizontal feed-in conveyor track for the selective feeding of different kinds of single sheets in an office machine, however, is not anticipated by this collating machine.
As a result of the embodiment of the magazine units as cassettes which can be exchanged one for another, the number of different kinds of single sheets available for use can be increased despite the predetermined number of magazine units dictated by the length of the feed-in conveyor track, because individual cassettes can be exchanged for others in case of need.
A particular advantage results from the insertion of the cassettes in cassette holder units, which can be inserted separately into the apparatus and which contain the separation device and its drive means. That is, the magazine can be equipped with a varying number of magazine units in modular fashion. The basic apparatus equipped with the feed-in conveyor track can be equipped, as needed, with a varying number of magazine units, and in like fashion further magazine units can be added to those already present, in order to adapt the apparatus to increasing demands placed upon it.
The drive of the separation apparatuses can be effected by means of the separately controllable drive motors which are separately disposed in the cassette holder units. It is also possible to effect the drive of the separation device by means of the feed-in conveyor track, so that separate drive motors become superfluous. In this case, the driving motion is taken over, for instance by a friction wheel or gear wheel of the cassette holder unit, from the feed-in conveyor track and transmitted via a gear to the separation device. The separate control of the separation device is effected by way of couplings inserted into the gear train.
The single sheets which have been printed upon and ejected from the printing cylinder are stacked in the various stacking units in a sorted fashion by way of the delivery track and its separately controllable diverters. By means of controlling the diverters, for instance by the office machine, the stacking is effected immediately in the desired stacking unit.
The stacking units are disposed as vertically disposed stacking receptacles below the delivery track, so that the number of stacking units is dependent only on the length of the delivery track.
The single sheets can fall into the stacking receptacles by their own weight, without additional conveyor rollers being required.
In an efficient manner, the stacking receptacles are disposed so as to make an acute angle counter to the direction of delivery, so that the single sheets directed into the stacking receptacles automatically come to rest with the printed side down. The stack of printed single sheets removed from the stacking receptacle is, as a result, already in the correct order, that is the order in which they were printed.
A delivery track with separately controllable delivery diverters and stacking receptacles disposed below the delivery track is known per se from the U.S. Pat. No. 2,668,706.
A decisive advantage of the apparatus according to the invention is that, because of the crossing of the induction channel and the ejection channel in the sheet guide at the printing cylinder, the feed-in conveyor track with the magazine units can be disposed directly above the delivery track with the stacking units. Even with a greater number of magazine units and stacking units, and thus an increased length of the feed-in conveyor track and of the delivery track, the outer dimensions of the apparatus thus remain such as to save space.
This could not be attained in accordance with prior art (compare U.S. Pat. No. 2,528,420). Because the ejection channel of the sheet guide is always located above the induction channel, then according to the prior art the delivery track as well must be located above the feed-in conveyor track at the sheet guide of the printing cylinder, and must lead upward in a direction deviating from the feed-in conveyor track, which wastes space and requires additional driven advancement rollers.
The additional stacking means provided in accordance with the invention above the printing cylinder makes it possible, as needed, to feed the printed single sheets after printing directly to this stacking means rather than to the delivery track. The single sheets can then be removed immediately from the stacker, so that it is not necessary to search for them in the stack arranged in order in the stacking units.
Furthermore, a sheet stacker can be disposed in advantageous fashion ahead of the forwardmost magazine unit just before the printing cylinder. By way of a diverter provided in the feed-in conveyor track and which can be changed in direction, the single sheets arriving from the magazine units can be delivered to the sheet stacker so as to be able to put together a set of forms from single sheets arriving from different magazine units. If the single sheets of the set of forms are placed in the desired number and order in the sheet stacker, then the set is again delivered to the printing cylinder from the sheet stacker, being controlled by a dispenser element.
The invention will be better understood and further objects and advantages thereof become more apparent from the ensuing detailed description of a preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the drawings.